Puppet Sunday: Gin O Clock

Happy Sunday kids. I'm listening to the Cold War Kids as it is too sunny for something heavy & too cold for Stevie Wonder. I'm also drinking a G & T which is customary in our house on a Sunday. I like this custom a lot.

I'm currently living in Norfolk which is funny because everyone is accidently racist, but deppressing because a lot of people are actually massive racists. What the hell has this got to do with a TV show or Puppets?

Norwich Puppet Theatre:



I loved this place when I was a kid. It was just magical. The marrionettes they use have such a destinctive style.

I don't know who took these photos but if it was you, message me so I can give you credit, they are just lovely.

They remind me of Mirrormask:



They look like they've made themselves out of anything they can find, they are cute & creepy, beautiful & slightly haunting all at once.

However hard I tried to dismiss my love of puppetry as something childish, like wanting to be an astronaut, we kept getting taken on school trips here to see strange & wonderful things from all over the world, not just their own productions. Inspiring, inventive & like nothing else on earth.

It is also the same age as me (Although I think the Theatre, situated in old of Norwich's many churches that aren't churches, has aged considerably better!)



Although my Puppets will be quite different, I just wanted to share this wonderful place with you, if you ever get the chance to go, for godsakes GO! You can also Adopt A Puppet, which is possibly the cutest idea ever.

I have found it incredibly hard to find a decent video of one of their performances, so I will share with you another Norwich Institution: The Puppet Man:



Puppets make everyone happy. Happy Sunday to youse.

Sunday, Puppet Sunday.

So this Puppet Sunday isn't late, I just wanted to post it on "NO FUN SMOKING DAY"

This is going to be a quick one. A good friend of mine has had some sad news recently & when I enquired as to how he was doing he told me he was OK & listening to lot's of Saves The Day.

It made me think of this video:



I love maribu covered puppets, the movement it creates is almost slow motion. I will be using real hair for my puppets, mainly as I have a bag full of extensions that I no longer use, but the greatest thing about this video is the fact that the puppets are doing the kinds of things even Oscar the Grouch wouldn't be seen doing, yet it still maintains a sweetness that I feel is important, at least it is to me.

As a great example I give you Big Bird on Jimmy Kimmel:





He is totally appropriate for a Late Night talk show, even one that can be 'edgy' (I hate that word but I can't think of a better one.) but the integrity of the character isn't comprimised. Yes there is something awesome about watching cartoon characters doing bad things, whether it's Drugs, Sex or Violence, but with puppets there's something slightly different for me.

As much as my little fellas are going to be drinking, cussing, horror movie loving, chain smoking, sarcastic wee buggers. I don't need them to push it any further.

On the subject of smoking, this is something I do want my puppets to do. Sitting around smoking FAGS (Not other things) is what me & my friends used to do, it's the conversations we had after too much coffee, too many cups of tea, to much booze, that have inspired the scripts & the dynamic of this whole project.

I get cross that a lot of characters in both film & on TV that would smoke in real life don't. EVERYONE on Corrie & Eastenders would smoke. Instead we have this one beacon of truth (& AWESOME)

This what made Britain Great.

She is sad because you are not smoking.

This exception to the rule of fag smoking TV characters (Shameless & Skins being notable exceptions. Godbless you Channel 4) is so outstanding, Dot Cotton is slang for a fag! (If Urban Dictionary says it, it must be true.) 

I'm excited to look into the mechanics of making the little fellas smoke. There are plenty of puppets who have.

Not everyone who smokes is this obscene. Honest.

Fancy Chaps know fags are cool.

Happy No Smoking day, I'm off for a smoke!

If you haven't seen this film. Go. Now. Watch it.

If you live in the UK support your local tobacconist. Or this will happen:

This made me cry. No, really.

Belated Puppet Sunday (Because there were dogs in my house.)

This is from Forgetting Sarah Marshal. It has Bill Hader in.

 His eyebrows are both funnier & sexier than you. Fact. (Unless you are Oliver, then they are not.)

Bill Hader is AWESOME.

No, REALLY. Bill Hader is AWESOME.



I have no idea why he doesn't do more cartoon work. He does the best voices. (Go & watch Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, it's a dope film. Anna Faris is a lot funnier than Scary Movie(s) may have made her seem.) I can't find a clip for it that you can watch in the UK but go & find the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode with the Balloon Hitler in, Der Inflatable Fuhrer. I believe it's called. He does the voice of Hitler.





As it's PUPPET Sunday, not Bill Hader Sunday, here's some more Dracula:





I would like my little fellas to look & work like this, but it's scaring the Class Of Nuke 'Em High Hell out of me that they take two people to opperate. I think the hardest thing I have to do is going to be finding someone to play Hutch. If only I knew Bill Hader...(Who is AWESOME.)

Fuck it. Here's some more:



Also go watch Hot Rod. It is also dope. If only for Lovejoy being an utter asshat, oh & this scene:

If this doesn't make you laugh I hate you.

I feel this is valid as dancing will be a big part of the show, the puppets have to look funny when they dance. I'm working on an "Excited Grover" type movement.

Yes, like that.

Oh & no, I didn't forget. Bill Hader was on the creative crew of South Park which had a rare guest voice for Chef Vader, now who do you think did that voice? Peter Serafinowicz. ONE STEP HAH!  

I am proud of these things, for I fail at most everything else. 

Sunday Puppet Awesomeness

I'm going to do this every Sunday. Just a video of some great puppteering. 

Ma nah ma nah.

This a great example of how simple a puppet can be to be unbelievably funny. I love the way they are designed to move, it's something I've been looking into a lot. I've written a list of movements I want my characters to be able to do. 

Firstly they have to be able to face palm:

Then they have to be able to do a big sigh:

(it's the moment at 0:15 that slays me every time.)

Then they have to be able to do a funny dance:

(Turn the sound off first if you are easily offended by shrill pop)

So the way I create them has to reflect these things. I feel the video above (The Muppets, not the GIANT Japanese cat.)  is one of many great examples of designing a puppet specifically for movement.